Kannadiga devotees recite prayers for rain at Prasanna Ganpati temple

Several devotees recited verses from the Bhagavad Gita at the Prasanna Ganpati temple here on Tuesday morning.

These prayers come as the last straw for the Kannadigas who are suffering from an acute water crisis as a result of a long spell of drought. The devotees believe that reciting these shlokas from the Gita has the power to approach the rain, God.

The same belief is also shared by the old priest Shivaswamy who performed the puja as he believes that this will be a good way to solve the crisis.

On this matter, Shiavswamy said, "Today we are facing acute water crisis, our solutions can be found in the shlokas from the Gita. When calamities strike we should pray to Lord Krishna, which we will continue to do for a few days."

The state of Karnataka which has been hit with drought in many districts has had to incur many losses. The drought has caused a loss of Rs16,662.48 crore and sought assistance from the centre of Rs2,434 crore under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) as relief measures caused by the drought.